1907 



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\ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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59th Congress, | 

2d Session. j 



Calendar No., 6436. 

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SENATE. 



Report 

No. 6510. 



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ALASKA- YUKON-PACIFIC EXPOSITION 

WASH. 



AT SEATTLE, 



February 8, 1907. — Ordered to be printed. 



Mr. Warner, from the Select Committee on Industrial Expositions, 
submitted the following 

REPORT. 

[To accompaux S. 7382.] 

The Select Committee on Industrial Expositions, to whom was re- 
ferred the bill (S. 7382) to encourage the holding of an Alaska- Yukon- 
Pacific Exposition at the city of Seattle, State of Washington, in the 
year of 1909, having had the same under consideration, begs to report 
back the same with the following amendments : 

On page 3, line 15, strike out the word " five " and insert the word 
" two;" so that it will lead " two hundred and fifty thousand dollars." 

On page 3, line 21, strike out the word " seventy," and on page 3, 
line 22, strike out the word " five " and insert the word " fifty." 

On page 4, line 12, strike out the words " one hundred " and insert 
the word " seventy-five." 

On page 5, line 4, strike out the word " five," and on page 5, line 5, 
strike out the word " hundred " and insert in lieu thereof " three 
hundred and twenty-five." 

On page 5, line 8, strike out the word " three " and insert the word 
" two." 

On page 5, line 9, strike out the word " fifty " and insert the word 
" twenty-five." 

On page 5, line 11, strike out the words " one hundred " and insert 
the word " fifty." 

So that the bill when amended shall read as follows : 

A BII.L To encourage the holding- of an Alaska-Yukon-Pacific exposition at the city of 
Seattle, State of Washington, in the year nineteen hundred and nine. 

Whereas it is desirable to eneourase the hohlinj:: of an Aljiska-Ynkoii-Pacitie 
exposition at the city of Seattle, in the State of Washini2;ton. in the year nine- 
teen hnndred and nine, to fittingly illustrate tlu^ vast and constantly inereas- 
m^ importance of the eonnneree of the Pacific Ocean countries in North 
America, South America, Asia, and Oceanica, the resources and potentialities 
of the Alaska and Yukon territories of the Ignited States and the l)omini«m of 



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2 AL/^SKA-YUKON-PACIFIC EXPOSITIO^^ AT SEATTLE, WASH. .^^ 

(Mirula and the marvelous development of the western part of the Vnited ' 
Si^teibv a display of the arts, industries, manufactures, and products ot the • 

,V^^!^ ^e kS^ of the union have signified their intention (^ enact- 
ing lawTand appropriating' money to enable them to participate in said expo- 
ii^Tion and Sitisfactorv assurances have been given by representatives of tor- 
eilr^memme ts that their governments will make interesting and instruc- 
tive (^hibits at said exposition illustrative of their material progress during 
the Di^t centurv.'and it is believed that the commerce of the I mted States m 
Ihe counti^es bordering upon the Pacific Ocean will be materially aided and 

wS!:^o ^^^SoXr^^b^held in the United States having for one of 
Its main objects the promorion of Pacific commerce and the advancement ot 
IheTiide of the United States with Pacific Ocean countries ; and 

Whereas Alaska-Yuk(!ii-Paciti(- Exposition, a corporation organized and existing 
imde^ tte laws of the State of Washington, has undertaken to ho d such an 
exposition beginning on the first day of June, nineteen hundred and nme. and 
cioSn- on the firteenth dav of October, nineteen hundred and nme ; and 

Whei^aS ?he collection of exhibits in the Territory of Alaska is exceedingly 
slo\v difficult and costlv. on account of the vast extent of the Territory and 
?he laclfof traSVortation facilities, and it is necessary that, it a satistactory 
dNplavo? the resources of Alaska shall be made, all exhibits must be collected 
1 nineteen hundred and seven and nineteen hundred and eight, ^"^i^cl be at 
lidewateT in Alaskan ports ready for shipment to Seattle by the early ta 
of ni eteen h^^^^^^^ and eight, and it is also desirable that ample time shall 
be ^ ven ?or the assembling of the exhibits of the Territory of Hawaii and the 
PhdiDpTne Inlands: Now. therefore, for the purpose of contnbutmg to the 
^Ss o? sad exposition, and enabling Alaska and our nsular possessions 
and also oriental and oceanic comitries to exhibit their products and resources 

Smesotl^^^^^^^^^ Congress assembled. That the Secretary of he Interior is 

^:?:S-l^rized and directed to aid th. habitants of the Tern 



^ST^ tr^SSSc^v ornawaii in pr;;;^d;^ and maintaining approprial. and 
ci editable exhibits of the products and resources of said Territories at the said 
cieditable exhiDU. o i^.^.^^ ^^^^ ^.^^. ^^^^ ^^^^^.^^^^^ ^^ j^ authorized to ap- 

lore persons to supervise the selection, purchase, preparation, 
transportation. airaSgement. installation, safe-keeping, exhibition, a^ return 



^a^k^^fi^ ^^^:i^^fov that purpose he is authorized to ap- 
noh?^ one 01 more persons to supervise the selection, purchase, preparation, 
tm 'DoAatiin airaSgement. installation, safe-keeping, exhibition and return 
tianspoitation aiiau| exhibited from said Territories at said exposition: 

%-!:^:^rT^^^^t ll said exhibit of said Territory of Alaska, including 
f^' 1 SpWioii Durchase preparation, transportation, arrangement, mstallation 
^afe keiDin<^^^^^^ «f ^^^ ^^'^^^1^^ ^^ exhibited shall not exceed 

?Se sum of * two hundred and fift^' thousand dollars, which sum is hereby 
^.tiri mit Of anv monev in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated : 
appropriated ot of an^mon^^^^^ of said exhibit of said Territory of Hawaii, 

"i^n no exceed the sum of fifty thousand dollars, wh eh sum i^l^ei-eby ap- 
snaii ."Ot exeeeu )„ (he Treasury not otherwise appropriated. 

P™P;:'n'Vh"t the SeSai^v ot war Is hereby authorised and directed to aid 
the TnhabitaS s ol- the Philippine Islands in providing and mamtaining an 
tne lUU.TuudLiL. " eThibit of the products and resources of the Philip- 

appropriate ^^^ a editable exMOitra^^ exposition, and for that purpose 



m? 1 1907 
D.ofO. 



ALASKA-YUKON-PACIFIC EXPOSITION AT SEATTLE, WASH. 6 

buildings shall be erected from plans prepared by the Supervising Architect of 
the Treasury, to be approved by the United States Government board herein 
created, and the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and directed 
to contract for said buildings in the same manner and under the same regu- 
lations as for other public buildings of the United States, but the contract for 
said buildings and the preparation of grounds therefor and the lighting thereof, 
inclusive, shall not exceed the sum of three hundred and twenty-five thousand 
dollars, which simi is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury 
not otherwise appropriated, and apportioned as follows : For the cost of the 
Territory of iVlaska building, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and for 
the cost of the Territory of Hawaii building, twenty-five thousand dollars, and 
for the cost of the Philippine Islands building, fifty thousand dollars. The 
Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and required to dispose of said 
buildings, or the materials composing the same, at the close of the exposition, 
giving preference to the State of Washington or to the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific 
Exposition corporation or to the city of Seattle to purchase the same at an 
appraised value to be ascertained in such manner as the Secretary of the 
Treasury may determine. 

Sec. 4. That to secure a complete and harmonious arrangement of the ex- 
hibits authorized by this act. and such other exhibits as may hereafter be 
authorized by act of Congress, a United States Government board shall 
be created. Such Government board shall be composed of the secretary, 
the Secretary of War, and the Secretary of the Interior. The President 
shall name one of said persons as chairman, and the board itself shall ap- 
point its secretary, disbursing officer, and such other officers as it may deem 
necessary. The officers and employees of said Government board, including 
officers of the Army and Navy, shall receive no compensation in addition to 
their regular salaries, but they shall be allowed their actual and necessary 
traveling expenses, together with a per diem in lieu of subsistence, to be fixed 
by the Secretary of the Treasury, while necessarily absent from their homes 
engaged upon the business of the board. Officers of the Army and Navy shall 
receive said allowance in lieu of the subsistence and mileage now allowed by 
law, and the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy may, in their 
discretion, detail retired Army or Navy officers for such duty. Any provision 
of the law which may prohibit the detail of persons in the employ of the United 
States to other service than that w^hich they customarily perform shall not 
apply to persons detailed for duty in connection with said Alaska-Yukon-Pacific 
exposition. Employees of the board not otherwise employed by the Government 
shall be entitled to such compensation as the board may determine, and such 
employees may be selected and appointed by said board. The disbursing officer 
shall give bond in such sum as the Secretary of the Treasury may determine 
for the faithful performance of his duties, said bond to be approved by said 
Secretary. The Secretary of the Treasury shall advance to said officer from 
time to time, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may pre- 
scribe, a sum of money from the appropriation for the exhibits herein author- 
ized, not exceeding at any one time three-fourths the penalty of his bond, to 
enable him to pay the expenses of said exhibits as authorized by the United 
States, and said Government board shall report to the session of Congress 
which shall meet in December, nineteen hundred and seven, what further ex- 
hibits, in its judgment, the Government of the United States should make at 
said exposition as will illustrate the function and administrative faculty of the 
Government in time of peace and its resources as a war power, tending to 
demonstrate the nature of our institutions and their adaptation to wants of the 
people. 

Sec. 5. That the allotment of space for exhibitors in the building or buildings 
erected under authority of this act for the use of the Territory of Alaska, the 
Territory of Hawaii, the Philii)pine Islands, and also for the use of oriental 
and oc(^anic countries, shall be done an<l ])erform(Ml without charge to exhibitors 
by the (Government board authorized by this act. 

Sec. (). That the United States shall not be liable on account of said exposi- 
tion for any expenses incid(Mit to or growing out of the sanu\ except for the 
construction of the building or buildings hereinbefore authorized and for the 
purpose of ])aying the expense incident to the selection, preparation, purchase, 
installation. transi)ortati()n. care, custody, and safe return of the exhibits made 
by the (Government and for the emi)Ioyment of proper- i)ersons as ofhcers and 
assistants by the (Government board created by this act. and for other expenses, 
and for the maintenance of said building or buildings and otluM' contingent 



4 ALASKA-YUKON-PACIFIC EXPOSITION AT SEATTLE, WASH. 

expense to be approved by the cliairman of the Government board, or, in the 
event of his absence or disability, by -such officer as the board may designate, 
and the Secretary of the Treasury, upon itemized accounts and vouchers: 
Provided. That no liability against the Government shall be incurred and no 
expenditure of money appropriated by this act shall be made until the officers 
of said exposition shall have furnished to the satisfaction of the Secretary of 
the Treasury proof that there has been obtained for the purpose of completing 
and opening said exposition bona fide subscriptions to the stock of the Alaska- 
Yukon-Pacific Exposition (a corporation), by responsible parties, contributions, 
donations, and appropriations, from all sources, aggregating a sum not less 
than one million dollars. 

Sec. 7. That the United States shall not in any manner or under any circum- 
stances be liable for any of the acts, doings, or representations of said Alaska- 
Yukon-Pacific Exposition (a corporation), its officers, agents, servants, or em- 
ployees, of any of them, or for service, salaries, labor, or wages of said officers, 
agents, servants, or employees, or any of them, or for any subscriptions to the 
capital stock, or for any stock certificates, bonds, mortgages, or obligations 
of any kind issued by said corporation, or for any debts, liabilities, or expenses 
of any kind or nature whatever attending such exposition corporation, or 
accruing by reason of the same. 

Sec. 8. That nothing in this act shall be construed so as to create any liability 
upon the part of the United States, direct or indirect, for any debt or obligation 
incurred or for any claim for aid or pecuniary assistance from Congress or the 
Treasury of the United States in support or liquidation of any debts or obliga- 
tions created by said United States Government board in excess of appropria- 
tions hereafter made by Congress therefor. 

Sec 9. That this act shall take effect from and after its passage and approval. 

As amended the committee respectfully recommends that the bill 
do pass. 

The proposed Alaska- Yukon-Pacific Exposition deals not merely 
Avith the rising young States of the Pacific slope, but with Alaska. 
Yukon Territory. British Columbia, Hawaii, and the Philippines, 
its object is to conmiemorate the purchase of Alaska, to celebrate 
the progress of the entire region of the Pacific, and to forecast 
as completely as may be done the possibilities of oriental trade. In 
this aspect the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition is broadly inter- 
national, and it is unique among enterprises of that character in that 
it deals with the resources of our own Territory of Alaska and the 
Canadian territory of Yukon, affording the unusual spectacle of two 
territories under different flags joining forces and uniting interests 
in the city of Seattle, nearly 1.000 miles away. Yukon territory and 
British Columbia, both of them under the Dominion government, 
are to be as much a part of this exposition as is Alaska, under the 
Goyernment of the United States, a situation expressiye of harmony, 
good will, and international comity and auguring a continuance of 
the amicable relations between us and our English-speaking neigh- 
bors. It is estimated that 7,500.000 persons liye in the section of 
country in the United States and Canada within a radius of 1.000 
miles of Seattle who are directly interested in the Alaska-Yukon- 
Pacific Exposition as a true index of their material wealth and de- 
yelopment. 

The Alabka-Yukon-Pacific Exposition is incorporated under the 
laws of the State of Washington. The people of Seattle were asked 
to subscribe $500,000 toward the enterprise. In a single day they 
subscribed $654,000, or $151,000 more than was asked of them. 

The legislature of the State of Washington has appropriated 
$1,000,000 for the exposition. 

In the message at the beginning of the second session of the Fifty- 
ninth Congress, the President of the United States, referring to the 



ALASKA-YUK0:N^-PACIFIC exposition at SEATTLE, WASH. 5 

needs of Alaska and the scope of the Alaska- Yukon-Pacific Exposi- 
tion, said: 

Our fellow-citizens wtio dwell on the shores of Puget Sound with character- 
istic energy are arranging to hold in Seattle the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposi- 
tion. Its special aims include the upbuilding of Alaska and the development 
of American commerce on the Pacific Ocean, This exposition, in its purposes 
and scope, should appeal not only to the people of the Pacific slope, but to the 
people of the United States at large. Alaska since it was bought has yielded 
to the Government $11,000,000 of revenue and has produced nearly $300,000,000 
in gold, furs, and fish. When properly developed it will become in large 
degree a land of homes. The countries bordering the Pacific Ocean have a 
population more numerous than that of all the countries of Europe ; their 
annual foreign commerce amounts to over $3,000,000,000, of which the share of 
the United States is some $700,000,000. If this trade were thoroughly under- 
stood and pushed by our manufacturers and producers, the industries not only 
of the Pacific slope, but of all our country, and particularly of our cotton- 
growing States, would be greatly benefited. Of course, in order to get these 
benefits, we must treat fairly the countries with which we trade. 

Alaska, which has an area of 586,400 square miles and a popula- 
tion of about 90,000, has all the elements ultimately to sustain a 
population of millions. Not only is it an empire in expanse, but in 
climate, that prime factor in civilization, it presents no obstacle to 
a numerous citizenship; and in natural resources it bids fair to 
eclipse all our other domains — it has inexhaustible stores of the 
precious metals, and coal of the best quality yet discovered in any 
country bordering on the Pacific; it has fish, it has furs, it has 
timber, it has agricultural lands of vast extent and incomparable 
fertility, and on its Pacific shore line it has a score of harbors open, 
like those of the Atlantic, the year round. We paid for Alaska 
$7,200,000, and its returns to this Government, as emphasized by the 
President in his message quoted in the foregoing lines, have ap- 
proximated $300,000,000. The commerce between Alaska and United 
States already exceeds that between Great Britain and her American 
jolonies just before the w^ar of the Revolution. For the calendar 
^ear 1906 exports from Alaska into the United States proper were 
^31,534,392, and the imports were $18,368,145, a grand total of trade 
jetween us and our northern territory of $49,902,537. 

Yukon has an area of about 197,000 square miles and a population 
of 7,000. That territory has produced $135,000,000 in placer gold, 
and it is estimated that the Klondike alone will yield as much more. 
Yukon Territory, like its neighbor, Alaska, is destined iiltimatel}^ 
to support an agricultural population. 

British Columbia is south of Alaska and Yukon Territor}-. It has 
an area of about 380,000 square miles. It is the province of Canada 
which fronts the Pacific and affords the Dominion an unrestricted 
route from ocean to ocean. Its minerals, timber, and agricuhural 
lands contribute to resources that are practically inexhaustible. 

The State of Washington has an area of a little less than 70,000 
square miles and a population of about 1,000,000. In its two grand 
divisions — the inland empire, lying east of the Cascade ^lounlains, 
and the Puget Sound region, lying to the Avestward of that range — 
are inunense wheat belts, almost unlimited grazing lands, valuable 
minerals, measures of coal and iron, inexhaustible forests, invaluable 
agricultural regions, and an inland sea stocked with fish. AA^ithin 
the past five years the population of AA^ashington has almost (l()ul)le(l. 

The prime object of the Alaska- Yukon-Pacific Exposition is to 



6 ALASKA-YUKON-PACIFIC EXPOSITION AT SEATTLE, WASH. 

stimulate trans-Pacific trade, a phase of the enterprise of direct inter- 
est to all the people of the United States. The foreign exhibits at 
the exposition will be confined strictly to the products of nations 
bordering upon the Pacific Ocean. Those countries cover an area 
of 17,096,060 square miles and have a population exceeding 904,- 
000,000. Their annual commerce with the United States is nearly 
$718,000,000, of which $396,000,000 is imports and $322,000,000 
exports. 

It is believed that the exposition will not only illustrate to a 
wonderful degree the mineral resources of Alaska, which have as 
yet been barely touched, notwithstanding the enormous amount of 
gold already taken from the placer diggings of the interior and 
quartz regions in southeast Alaska, but will demonstrate to the 
thousands looking for homes out of the public domain that such 
can be found in Alaska. It is believed further that it will enable us 
to enter into closer trade relations with Asia and to increase mate- 
riall}^ the volume of our commerce with the most populous nations 
on earth. 

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